Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 8, 1995 TAG: 9506080078
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Landmark Communications Inc. of Norfolk and Knight-Ridder Inc. of New York were to announce today that Knight-Ridder has become a full partner in InfiNet, Landmark's 18-month-old Internet access business.
InfiNet serves eight markets, including Roanoke and Norfolk, and will add five more by July. Within two years, InfiNet is prepared to enter as many as 100 markets, including the majority of the 26 cities where Knight-Ridder publishes daily newspapers, the two partners said in a joint statement.
Among Knight-Ridder's newspapers are the Miami Herald, the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. Knight-Ridder was an early entrant into electronic publishing. Its Mercury Center service provided by the San Jose paper recently was named by Interactive Age Magazine as the best commercial site out of thousands on the Internet's World Wide Web.
Landmark has its three largest daily newspapers on the World Wide Web: Roanoke, the Greensboro (N.C.) News & Record, and The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. Landmark's television stations in Las Vegas, Nev., and Nashville, Tenn., and its cable services, the Weather Channel and Travel Channel, also are online.
InfiNet will help other newspapers establish services on the World Wide Web. Its package of services includes local-market Internet access, equipment, software, training, market research, billing and customer service.
"Infinet's offer to newspapers is simple and straightfoward," said Richard F. Barry III, vice chairman of Landmark. "Any newspaper can publish on the Internet in 30 days with no capital investment and receive an immediate stream of subscription and advertising revenue."
"We have been encouraged by our success in gaining subscriptions and growing ad revenue," said Frank Batten, Landmark's chairman. "Knight-Ridder is an excellent partner to help us take InfiNet to the next level."
Landmark is a privately held media company. Knight-Ridder is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and, in addition to newspaper publishing, is engaged in business news and information services; electronic retrieval services; news, graphics and photo services; cable television; and newsprint manufacturing.
The Web address for the Mercury Center in San Jose is http://www.sjmercury.com. The Web address for the Roanoke Times & World-News is http://www.infi.net/roatimes/index.html. You can reach the Roanoke Times & World-News by e-mail at rtimes1roanoke.infi.net.
by CNB